The Vita Game That's Cheaper, More Fun Than Most Minis

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Table Top Tanks makes augmented reality fun.

By Greg Miller

Podcast Beyond likes to have a lot of fun at the expense of PlayStation Minis. These downloadable games debuted alongside the PSPgo and were meant to be bite-sized titles. However, they didn't pack Trophies and usually were pretty darn expensive for what you were getting.

Table Top Tanks is the lighthouse of hope steering the PlayStation Vita away from similar shores. For $1.99 in North America, Table Top Tanks packs augmented reality gameplay, Trophies, and -- most importantly -- fun.

The thrust here is simple. Place the augmented reality cards that came with your PlayStation Vita, point the rear-facing camera at them, and watch as your dining room table becomes a battleground. Jets fly overhead, the tanks come out of the bases that were once cards, and you get to blasting by driving with traditional Vita controls.

There's a solo campaign and ad-hoc multiplayer featuring capture the flag and survival modes. I played a round of CTF, and it's something I'd gladly do again -- especially with the dirt cheap price and Trophies. It's like tank Micro Machines.

A nifty little addition is the ability to make your own maps. If you have a beer bottle or whatever on the table, you can pop in and give the bottle a shape in the game so that tanks have to drive around it or errant missiles cause the structure to smoke.

You won't have to wait long to find out if Table Top Tanks is good. The game comes out Tuesday, so skip a cup of coffee this weekend and you'll be able to afford it.